The Astrology Book

Astronomers speculate that Phobos and Deimos may once have been asteroids

(perhaps one asteroid that later split apart into two) that wandered close to Mars and

were captured by the planet’s gravitational field. Whether or not these satellites are

former asteroids, the asteroid connection provides the link between current astrologi-

cal research and planetary moon studies: Given the growing astrological acceptance of

asteroids, many of which are smaller and farther away than the Martian moons, it is

only natural that astrologers begin considering the influence of Phobos and Deimos

(not to mention the influence of the moons of the other planets).

The moons of Mars constitute a useful starting place for planetary moon stud-

ies for three reasons:

1. Mars is the closest planet with moons.


2. The principle indicated by phobos(fear; the source of the term “phobia”)
   and deimos(panic or terror) is comparatively straightforward and clearly
   represents the polar opposite principle of Martian assertiveness or courage
   (other planet-moon relationships are more complex).


3. The moons of Mars have attracted the imagination of human beings more
   than the moons of the other planets (with the exception, of course, of
   Earth’s moon), indicating that their astrological significance should be
   more easily retrieved from the collective unconscious.

With respect to the last reason, it is interesting to note that, a century and a

half prior to Asaph Hall’s discovery of Phobos and Deimos in 1877, Jonathan Swift’s

fictional hero Lemuel Gulliver found that the Laputans had discovered two Martian

moons. Also, later in the eighteenth century, Voltaire wrote about a visitor from Sirius

who mentioned the two as-yet-undiscovered moons of Mars. Both Swift and Voltaire

based their speculations on the work of Johannes Kepler, who as early as 1610 hypothe-

sized that Mars was circled by two moons. Mars itself has also figured prominently in

imaginative literature, having often served as the backdrop for stories of “martial” brav-

ery (e.g., Edgar Rice Burroughs’s series of Martian novels featuring the brave and noble

John Carter), as well as the home world of fearful and terrifying monsters who invaded

Earth (the most well known of which are the Martians in H. G. Wells’s The War of the

Worlds). Although both these subgenres draw on the Mars archetype (war), the latter

also draws on what might be referred to as the Phobos-Deimos archetype (fear-panic).

Hall named the Martian moons after the sons of Ares (Aries), who was the

Greek equivalent of Mars, the Roman god of war. Phobos and Deimos have no mytho-

logical tales of their own. Rather, they are simply mentioned in the context of other

myths, where they serve as their father’s chariot drivers. Developed myths are not nec-

essary, however, to decipher the meaning of these “brother” moons; unlike the names

of many other celestial bodies, Fear and Panic are self-explanatory. Similarly, it takes

little reflection to see why they should be associated with Mars: As a psychological

principle, Mars represents outgoing energy, assertiveness, courage, and aggression.

This planet’s placement in a natal chart indicates how, and in what area of life, this

principle is expressed most readily. What is not usually mentioned, however, is that

where one most tends to express one’s self in acts of courage and aggression is also

Phobos and Deimos (Moons of Mars)

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